Dustin Barbour

The Trail to Frenchman

Dustin Barbour — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 18:17:53 +0000

This is an image of the trail leading to the peak of Frenchman Mountain. I took this picture from the downside of the first part of the saddle. Notice the round-ish area at the bottom of the saddle and you start to get the perspective right.

My Hometown

Dustin Barbour — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 00:02:23 +0000

I recently hiked Frenchman Mountain on the east side of town. It’s commonly referred to as Sunrise Mountain, but that’s not it’s official name. The hike itself was pretty brutal. It’s not terribly long–2 miles maybe–but it features two of the steepest trails I’ve yet to climb. It starts with a pretty brutal grade until you reach a false peak about halfway along. From there it drops down into a saddle followed by another really steep gradient up to the peak. Brutal. It’s been five days since I hiked it and my calves are just barely recovered.

Climbing Sand Dunes

Dustin Barbour — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 00:27:34 +0000

Standard fare for a Death Valley trip is walking out into Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes. So we did. Three stupid white-ish guys with cameras. As time goes on and more and more people are out with their SLRs, the more I’m learning to hate having my camera. I need to go to more interesting places… places that are difficult to get to.

Chris Monroe Up Close

Dustin Barbour — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 00:26:47 +0000

Per the title.

Badwater Salt Flats, Death Valley

Dustin Barbour — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 00:25:36 +0000

Per the title. Desaturated, sharpened and some other standard post-production edits. Enjoy.

Chris and Matt, Badwater 2 of 2

Dustin Barbour — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 00:24:49 +0000

Another shot of Chris and Matt walking across the Badwater salt flat in Death Valley, CA. Fun stuff… a little late in publishing this one, but meh… whatcha going to do?

Chris and Matt, Badwater 1 of 2

Dustin Barbour — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 00:23:41 +0000

Chris and Matt walking out towards the Badwater salt flats in Death Valley, CA. I had to do a little post-production work to make the image exactly what I wanted, but I won’t be telling you exactly what was done. Maybe it is obvious.

Overlooking Hoover Dam

Dustin Barbour — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 00:17:58 +0000

To avoid traffic delays on the dam, Nevada and Arizona collaborated on a bridge spanning the canyon which opened within the last year to much fanfare. Here I am standing on it with my sister and my friend Matt.

NDT with some inspiring words

Dustin Barbour — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 23:57:42 +0000

Neil DeGrasse Tyson is the new Carl Sagan. Astrophysicist, extremely personable and very outspoken, he’s been one of science’s greatest advocates of the last five to ten years. I’d love to have lunch with this man. He was asked what the most astounding thing about the universe was and his answer happened to be the thing I too find most astounding and incredible.

As poetic as that is, it’s not like he’s necessarily original in his thought. Consider this quote from Lawrence Krauss:

Every atom in your body came from a star that exploded. And the atoms in your left hand probably came from a different star than your right hand. It really is the most poetic thing I know about physics. You are all stardust. You couldn’t be here if stars hadn’t exploded. Because the elements, the carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, iron, all the things that matter for evolution weren’t created at the beginning of time. They were created in the nuclear furnaces of stars. And the only way they could get into your body is if the stars were kind enough to explode. So forget Jesus. The stars died so you could be here today.

Angela Rodriguez

Dustin Barbour — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 00:14:29 +0000

My younger sister Angela recently visited me here in Vegas. It was a good time even if Vegas was a little overwhelming for her. You see, she grew up in Altus, OK… not exactly a big city and not exactly Sin City. I grabbed this image while driving back into town from Red Rock Canyon where she and I went for some fun.